Happy National Oyster Day!

Happy National Oyster Day! We couldn't let the day pass without celebrating because you know how much we (and YOU!) love oyster plates! I was thinking about how I didn't really learn to love raw oysters until well into my twenties. In case you didn't know, I had many irrational fears as a child - many, many, many. As soon as I would catch a listen of a news story where some horrible tragedy occurred, I was sure I would be the next statistic. One night on the national news I heard a story of a person dying after eating raw oysters. Now I know this does happen, but it doesn't happen often. A quick Google search revealed approximately 100 people die per year from Vibrio bacteria found in oysters. I'll stop now on this because I certainly don't want this to become a safety guide on eating raw oysters, or any raw food for that matter. I just remember being deathly afraid of them, and at one dinner as a child seeing my father eat one and bursting into tears because I knew his fate was sealed by that one slurp.

I did overcome my fears and began enjoying the salty, briny mollusks eventually. To me, they are really just vehicles for sauces like mignonette and cocktail. I love both, but prefer cocktail sauce and could almost eat it on its own. Growing up we ate boiled shrimp a lot, and when we would have them at my mother's parents' house, my grandfather, whom we affectionately called Man, would be in charge of the cocktail sauce. It was always homemade, and never store bought. It's so easy there really isn't a reason NOT to make it. Below is the recipe we used. We never really measured anything - it was all "to taste" - but I've given my best shot at putting measurements to it so you can enjoy it as much as we did!

Man's Cocktail Sauce

3/4 cup ketchup (obviously Heinz)

2 teaspoons jarred horseradish (more if you like it with a real kick)

3-4 dashes of Worcestershire sauce (obviously Lea & Perrins)

2-3 dashes of hot sauce (in Mississippi use Tabasco. After moving to Texas, I was corrected and told to always use Cholula)

Juice of one lemon (use a fresh lemon, not bottled)

Salt and pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients - that's all! See, no reason for store bought!